‘We Are committed to ensuring justice for prisoners’

Ex Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Syed Mohammad Motaher Hossain in an interview with The New Nation has highlighted the challenges facing Bangladesh’s prison system, including access to justice, preventing custodial deaths, providing adequate healthcare and addressing shortages
of doctors and ambulances.

New Nation: Are inmates getting justice effectively?
IG Prisons : We aim to ensure justice for inmates. The government has adopted various rules, regulations and policies, and all of these are interconnected to ensure justice. We are hopeful of achieving a good outcome. We also want to ensure accountability.

New Nation: According to various media reports and NGOs, Bangladesh has been witnessing a high number of custodial deaths. Is this a challenging issue for prison officials?

IG Prisons: Absolutely. It is a challenging issue, and we are addressing it to find solutions. In prisons, we provide basic healthcare treatment to inmates. However, prisons are not equipped to provide advanced medical treatment.

New Nation: Are prisoners getting adequate healthcare facilities in jails?
IG Prisons: Over the last seven months, we have provided healthcare treatment to around 2.5 lakh patients. We are very conscious about this issue. We do not deny advanced treatment to prisoners who need it. However, sometimes it takes time to obtain the necessary approval for such treatment.

New Nation: What are the major challenges you face in dealing with these problems?
IG Prisons: We do not have an adequate number of full-time doctors. If we could have doctors available round the clock, it would be a great help for all of us. We are also struggling to provide sufficient ambulances. At present, we have only 27 ambulances for 75 prisons.